Part of the federal money from Sandy relief is going to a campaign to promote New Jersey tourism. About $5 million is intended for a series of ads titled “Stronger Than the Storm.”

The ads will be national campaigns featuring Governor Chris Christie and his family. Given that Gov. Christie will be running another gubernatorial election or running for the presidency, these ads end up being free campaign ads.

That’s one thing in itself, but here’s another: these particular ads (featuring Gov. Christie) cost $2.2 million more than a competing campaign (which didn’t feature the governor) created by a different group. So that’s $2 million extra dollars being spent on advertising that could be going to help people affected by the storm.

These victories are exhilarating, but they are not accidents. All of these gains are the result of years of working together to elect fair-minded candidates and placing organizers on the ground to build support for these bills.

“I was angry this weekend, listening to the spin coming out of the administration, about the failure of the supercommittee, and that the President knew it was doomed for failure, so he didn’t get involved. Well then what the hell are we paying you for?” Christie said during a press conference in Camden.

Though he said both parties deserve blame, Gov. Christie maintained that the buck stops with the President and pointed to his own governance as a model for leadership.

“In New Jersey, the reason [problems got solved] is because I called people into the room and said we’re going to solve this problem and I had people of good will on the other side who said they believed it was their obligation, regardless of party, to get done things like pension and benefit reform,” the governor said, adding, “Why the president of the United States refuses to do this is astonishing to me.”

The President may as well go back to the Senate, Gov. Christie suggested.